We asked the Future Salon participants when they RSVPed to also tell us their top 3 personal values. We created a word cloud out of the responses about a week ago and now we updated it with the latest responses:

Future
Salons have the following structure: 6-7pm is networking with
light refreshments proudly sponsored by SAP; 7-9+pm is the presentation
followed by questions and discussion.

SAP Labs
North America, Building D, COIL (Co-Innovation Lab). SAP is located at
3410 Hillview Avenue,
Palo Alto, CA 94304[map]. Free and open to the public.
Please spread the word and invite others, but be sure to RSVPhttp://bit.ly/9kPpRt
so we know how many people to expect.

The
real problem is that it doesn't matter what regulations are in
place if the people running the economy are rip-off artists. The
system assumes a certain minimum level of ethical behavior and
civic instinct over and above what is spelled out by the
regulations. If those ethics are absent — well, this thing
isn't going to work, no matter what we do.

I can't believe that they are at it again and that we let them. If only these banks had developed some conscience. Or is greed trumping that? Join the discussion around Activating
Conscience in Corporations at the Future Salon this Thursday the 25th of February.

Future
Salons have the following structure: 6-7pm is networking with
light refreshments proudly sponsored by SAP; 7-9+pm is the presentation
followed by questions and discussion.

SAP Labs
North America, Building D, COIL (Co-Innovation Lab). SAP is located at
3410 Hillview Avenue,
Palo Alto, CA 94304[map]. Free and open to the public.
Please spread the word and invite others, but be sure to RSVPhttp://bit.ly/9kPpRt
so we know how many people to expect.

Today someone asked me: "Why are you doing the Future
Salon Activating Conscience in Corporations?" We are always looking for the biggest lever to push the world in a positive direction. If we are able to awake conscience in corporations, that will make an enormous difference.

That Walmart is embracing sustainability is one of the most positive signs for our environment in the last years.

As a little teaser Future Salon speaker John
Montgomery answered the following 3 questions:

1) According to history
corporations where first created by kings. What influence did that have
on the conscience of the corporation?

Corporations
in their current form
are anachronisms from the days of feudal Europe. Corporations
were designed to extend the reach and power of the monarchy without
creating rival centers of political and economic power. The king
bestowed a charter upon the corporation and was its investor,
intelligence and conscience. The corporation (corpus L. body)
was
split asunder from its intelligence and conscience. If the corporation
misbehaved, the king could revoke the charter.
The
collective intelligence and conscience latent in those managing the
corporation
was deactivated. Europe threw out its kings in the age of Enlightenment
but
the basic lobotomized corporate form survives intact with legacy
architecture that lacks formal mechanisms to activate the collective
intelligence and conscience latent within each corporate
collective.

2)
What do you say to skeptics, that claim: When the rubber hits the road
the
profit goal is overwriting conscience goals.

The
early evidence is gathering that conscious businesses are better, more
profitable businesses. See Firms of Endearment, for example.
Being a conscious business is a significant competitive
advantage.

3) You saw a
pattern within the 1000+ startups that you helped. What about
established, long
time corporations, can they be guided towards greater corporate social
responsibility?

Absolutely,
YES,

Look
at Google. Google is flirting with activating its corporate
conscience. Its mantra "Do no evil" is the Hippocratic oath and the
fundamental precept of buddhism. As a double negative, it is a very
weak statement, but it is better than what most companies have. This
ethic is part of what creates the perception that Google is a great
place to
work. It hints at a corporate conscience. People are hungry to work
for businesses that have a conscience. Having a corporate conscience
will
become a very important competitive advantage during this
decade.

Look
at Google's recent action with respect to trying to do the right thing
with
respect to its operations in China. Imagine what Google would be like
if
their mantra were "Do Good".

To call Google a long time corporation is a bit of a stretch. Can't wait to continue the discussion this Thursday. Going to be so interesting.

Future
Salons have the following structure: 6-7pm is networking with
light refreshments proudly sponsored by SAP; 7-9+pm is the presentation
followed by questions and discussion.

SAP Labs
North America, Building D, COIL (Co-Innovation Lab). SAP is located at
3410 Hillview Avenue,
Palo Alto, CA 94304[map]. Free and open to the public.
Please spread the word and invite others, but be sure to RSVPhttp://bit.ly/9kPpRt
so we know how many people to expect.

It is of course crude, as words were used and not phrases to create it.

John Montgomery will use these answers during the next Future Salon. He will do an interactive
exercise with everyone in the room to quickly demonstrate how easy it is
for a
collective to consciously and expressly articulate and activate its
collective
conscience. I can't wait.

We had many great Future Salons over the years, so I don't post this lightly. You have to come to this one on Thursday 25thof February 6-9pm at SAP Labs in Palo Alto as it will be the most important Future Salon ever.

Lawrence Lessig with Change Congress First! is fighting to get legislation passed for public financing of elections. Check out his latest video.He is also calling for a convention. There is a chance that he will present at a Future Salon in the spring too.

In our February Future Salon we are tackling this problem from a different angle. What if we could activate conscience in corporations, could bake it into their bylaws?

Lawyer John Montgomery has represented over 1000 startups and sees a definite pattern among the successful ones: They activated their conscience. He wants to share that pattern of success. He is writing a book about it and will present it to a larger audience for the first time at this Future Salon.

2. Give a quick history
of the development of the conscience of the corporation and the current stage
of development of the corporate conscience. A lot of this is actually in
the court case, which reflects the overwhelming ambivalence our society has
about corporations and the prevailing mistrust of them due to the steady stream
of unconscionable behavior they manifest.

3. Suggest the opportunity
to take the corporate conscience to its next logical stage of development.

4. Do an interactive
exercise with everyone in the room to quickly demonstrate how easy it is for a
collective to consciously and expressly articulate and activate its collective
conscience.

For point 4 we need you to fill out the RSVP (http://bit.ly/9kPpRt) where we have added one question: What are your top three personal core values?

John Montgomery has practiced corporate law in Silicon Valley since 1984. John's
experience includes extensive corporate counseling to public and
private companies and venture capital firms. He has represented clients
in connection with numerous venture capital financings, initial public
offerings, public and private mergers and acquisitions, going private
transactions and a variety of other general corporate matters. [more]

Future Salons have the following structure: 6-7pm is networking with
light refreshments proudly sponsored by SAP; 7-9+pm is the presentation
followed by questions and discussion.

SAP Labs North America, Building D, COIL (Co-Innovation Lab). SAP is located at 3410 Hillview Avenue,
Palo Alto, CA 94304[map]. Free and open to the public. Please spread the word and invite others, but be sure to RSVPhttp://bit.ly/9kPpRt so we know how many people to expect.